Dead Island Riptide to get defense hubs areas and better guns

More information about the upcoming co-op based zombie killing simulator—Dead Island: Riptide has emerged. The information has been revealed thanks to PlayStation Magazine’s interview of Creative Producer Anthony Cardahi.

One of the newest and biggest features in the game, according to Cardahi, is the new ‘defense hubs areas’. “They introduce something that is a classic zombie trope that you see in a lot of movies, where survivors fortify a location and try to hold on as long as they can,” he explains. This entails building barricades and generally not dying. Teamwork will undoubtedly be important if you plan to play online. “It’s something that makes complete sense in the world of Dead Island,” he says.

Boom goes the zombie

Water also has newfound importance in the game, as the monsoon that was mentioned in the first game has finally hit. This means a lot of areas are going to be flooded, which opens up possibilities for new zombie-murdering scenarios on boats. The new weather system also allows the devs to play with the atmosphere of the game, thanks to a new lighting system. Weather will play a huge role, and will sometimes obscure your visibility thanks to torrential rainfall.

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Guns are also going to see a change in the game. “The ranged combat in the original was only pushed during the middle and latter stages of the game, and ammo was really sparse," explains Cardahi. “As such, most of the tweaking and balance time was focused on the melee combat and not so much on the shooting”. This will be fixed by putting ranged weapons and ammo into the early stages of the next game. This, coupled with the new shooting system, is set to make gunplay a lot more fun and headshots a lot more dangerous.

Cardahi also revealed a new type of zombie that will be showing up in the game. “The first one we’re talking about is called the Grenadier. He’s a lumbering monstrosity who has cancerous growths all over his body and he flings parts of his body at you. He’s a ranged attacker, which brings a freshness and variety into how the zombie combat takes place.”

Back in November, Techland had released new screenshots for Dead Island Riptide. The new screenshots show off the new types of zombies, guns, playable characters, and the new environments where you will murder zombies.

The screenshots show places like a marketplace where the characters are taking cover behind some furniture that has been thrown around. Riptide seems to be paying more attention to urban combat than its predecessor, which was based around the ’tropical island holiday’ setting.

Dead Island Riptide is set to be released on the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on 26 April, 2013.